Danish bank criticised for turning away non-Danish speakers

Coop Bank has been turning away customers who don’t speak Danish, the Politiken newspaper has reported, citing the case of a Malaysian man who was told that he could not have an account because he didn’t speak Danish. 

Mohamad Haizam, from Malaysia, was told by a customer services agent that he could not have an account because he didn’t speak Danish, and when Politiken itself rang customer services, they were told the same thing. 

“Because we are a Danish bank, we have all our documents in Danish, we only speak Danish (…) I have not been trained to be able to advise others in English,” the agent said. “And that is why we have simply decided that we will not change that now. And then it would be best to go that way and say, we only take in Danish customers’.

Claus Haagensen, a representative for the distribution company Post & Medier, told Politiken that this was a problem for the business, as 80 percent of employees had a foreign background, and he had been told by Coop that non-Danish speakers cannot have a bank account.

Danish vocab: vi snakker kun dansk – we only speak Danish

Snowstorm to hit Jutland on Monday evening 

A late-season snowstorm is expected to hit northern and central Jutland from 10pm on Monday night, with snow, sleet and heavy winds. 

Anesten Devasakayam, a meteorologist with state forecaster DMI, urged motorists to be careful. “There will be a lot of snow on the roads and a lot of snow being blown by the wind, leading to poor visibility,” he said. 

In northern and central Jutland at least 10cm of snow will fall overnight, but other parts of Denmark are also expected to get snow, sleet and rain on Monday night. 

Danish vocab: slud – sleet

Home guard on Bornholm practice for a Russian invasion

Over 200 part-time troops from the Bornholm Home Guard, together with home guard troops from Sweden and young soldiers posted to the island for their national service held a 48-hour exercise over the weekend preparing for a Russian invasion of the Baltic island, which is only 364km over the sea from the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad. 

“We see a threat situation where Russia is more aggressive. We must be able to fight, we must be able to ambush, and attack objects such as drones,” Ulrik Skytte, the head of the Bornholm Home Guard said at a press conference. 

Danish vocab: hjemmeværnssoldater – home guard soldiers 

Cases of gonorrhea in Denmark hit 25-year high 

The number of people testing positive for the sexually transmitted disease gonorrhea in Denmark has hit the highest level in 25 years, according to SSI, Denmark’s state infectious diseases institute. 

The number of people being diagnosed rose by 40 percent between 2021 and 2022, with 3,906 cases and 2,807 cases reported respectively. 

Susan Cowan, section manager at SSI, said that the sharp rise may be related to the lockdown periods during the coronavirus pandemic. 

“We can’t explain exactly what this is due to. But now that covid is over, people probably want to go out and have a party because they’re not locked in anymore, and something maybe he happening there,” she said. 

Danish vocab: formentlig – probably